Olivia specializes in human rights and national security challenges in Asia. A visitor walks past ribbons with inscriptions calling for peace and reunification displayed on a military fence at Imjingak peace park near the Demilitarized Zone, Dec. 15, 2020. JUNG YEON-JE / Contributor / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
The newly amended Law on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act stymies efforts by South Korean NGOs to promote information access in North Korea.
It’s a dangerous precedent to restrict activities because North Korea requests it.
Should Seoul continue down this path, it may have a worrisome end one that undermines the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people on both sides.
Ruling party chief expresses regret over criticism of new law banning anti-Pyongyang leaflets
Posted : 2020-12-21 15:43
Updated : 2020-12-25 16:57
Activists in South Korea, including North Korean defectors, have long been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets from inter-Korean border areas in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, to send them to North Korean sky. Korea Times file
Ruling Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon on Monday voiced his regret over growing criticism that the new law banning the launching of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border runs afoul of the right to freedom of expression.
Last Monday, the National Assembly, where the DP commands a majority, passed a bill that penalizes the sending of propaganda leaflets critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un or his political system into the North, despite strong objection by opposition lawmakers.
Unification ministry op-ed: Why South Korea had to stop leaflet launches
Suh Ho, the vice minister at the Ministry of Unification, penned an exclusive op-ed about South Korea s leaflet bill
SHARE
Image: Republic of Korea Marine Corps
The following article is an opinion piece by Suh Ho, vice minister of South Korea’s Ministry of Unification. Views expressed in opinion articles and columns are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.
On Dec. 14, the South Korean National Assembly passed an amendment to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act that regulates leaflets. Critics in South Korea and from overseas including the U.S. misunderstood the intention and the contents of the amendment, all while organizations scattering leaflets issued distorted denunciations of the amendment.
Photo : YONHAP News Anchor: A U.S. congressional commission is set to convene a hearing to review a contentious new law that authorizes criminal charges against activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border into North Korea. Seoul reiterated its position that protecting the lives and safety of border area residents should be prioritized over freedom of expression.
Choi You Sun reports.
Report: The bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. Congress is expected to hold a hearing on the South Korean National Assembly s recent passage of a bill that bans anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns.
Citing a Republican Party representative on Friday, Voice of America(VOA) said the hearing is expected to be held when the new congressional session begins next month.
RFA
Ji Seong-ho, a former North Korean refugee who is now a lawmaker in South Korea’s opposition People Power Party, is currently in the United States on a visit to discuss the North Korean human rights situation with government officials and policy makers.
During his visit, South Korea’s National Assembly passed a bill that made it illegal to release balloons into North Korean territory with payloads of leaflets critical of the North Korean leadership, an activity that opponents see as protected under freedom of expression laws.
Ji said that several congressmen and others that he met expressed deep concerns over the new law, as they feel it infringes not only on citizens’ freedom of speech, but it also North Korean citizens’ right to knowledge and freedom for Koreans on both sides of the border to practice their religion.